Partners with SUCCESS

CHAMPIONS

    Here are the current bowling champions.

ANDY THOMSON Andy and sons - Eddie and David.

Andy was thrust back into the spotlight when his highly successful career turned full circle last year. After a few years in the doldrums, the forty eight year old Anglo Scot was dramatically recalled and named as ‘skip’ for the fours and triples in the five man English team for the world championships at Ayr. He then capped his comeback off and, as the saying goes, ‘rolled back the years with a vintage display…..’ when he claimed the BUPA Open title at Sheffield in November, beating Melton’s Les Gillett in the final.

ROY ARMSON and GRAEME WILSON Roy Armson, now in the twilight of his illustrious career, is the face of Taylor Bowls and plays an important role which calls on all his knowledge and experience gleaned over the years, to ensure that we maintain our position as market leader within the framework of the crown green game. Thirty one year old Graeme Wilson continues to dominate the sport, winning no fewer than eight major events this year, among which were the famous Talbot Trophy and the BCGBA Champion of Champions – both won at Blackpool.

Two of the best known faces in Crown Green Bowling are pictured with The Talbot Trophy and The BCGBA Champion of Champions Trophy.

PAUL FOSTER

Paul has battled through the ranks from junior level to join the best in the world in just six years. He won the Scottish indoor U25 singles title in 1997 and in 1998 he was on the crest of a wave, winning the national singles crown and the British title. The icing on the cake came when he secured the world indoor singles crown that gave him a foothold on the professional ranking ladder, and he has never looked back since.

He re-iterated world success in 2001 when he regained the singles title for the second time and in 2002 claimed the world pairs title with Hugh Duff. He has been ever present in the Scottish indoor international side since 1991, and in 2003 was the proud recipient of his first outdoor cap.

DAVID GOURLAY
	The world ranked number 1 player for the last five years. In his formative years David won every national indoor title available to him and then made his mark on the sport after a wild card entry careered him into the higher echelons when he beat childhood friend and local Ayrshire rival Hugh Duff in the nal of the world indoor singles championship at Preston Guild Hall in 1996. Three years later he made his way to the top of the ladder, and continues to sit proudly on top of the world.
The 36 year old spends his summer months in Scotland, promoting his bowls retail business, and is a well known and respected figure at a variety of events across the country. He escapes during the winter months to the warmer climes of Australia, where he hones his skills on the super southern hemisphere greens, and this year will be representing the Mt Lewis Club, NSW, for the third consecutive season.

STEVE GLASSON - Australian No 1

Without a doubt, the undisputed king pin down under. Representing the highly acclaimed St John’s Park club in the suburbs of Sydney, Steve notched up the Australian singles title for an amazing seventh time, after reaching eight nals in the last ten years. He first won the indoor crown in 1994 then scored a hat-trick of victories from 1997 to 99, and although missing out on the title in 2000, set up a further ‘three in a row’ record, beating Ray Glasser twice and former English International Steve Halmai last season. Steve was a member of the Australian squad who secured team gold medal at the world championships in Johannesburg in 2000 and he was pipped for gold in the singles by Ireland’s Jeremy Henry.

DARREN BURNETT
	Darren and brother Ryan.
Darren is the latest addition to our team at Taylor Bowls, and we are absolutely delighted to have him on board. At only 27 years of age, he already has five world titles to his credit. He holds a record number of four WIBC world U25 singles titles, winning the titles back to back between 1998 and 2001 - before age ruled him out of contention. In 2001 he added his name to the list of WIBC world singles champions, having been runner up the previous year to compatriot Graeme Archer. He has won the Scottish outdoor singles twice, is the current British singles champion and has also notched up the national singles title indoors. Darren will represent Scotland in the British indoor triples, a title which he won in ’98 with his Arbroath clubmates.Darren represented Scotland in the singles at Manchester Commonwealth Games, was runner/up to Namibia’s Douw Calitz in the inaugural Champion of Champions event at Moama last year and is a former winner of the Scottish Masters title.

JEREMY HENRY

Jeremy (right) with Ian McClure - World Pairs Champions

Jeremy has won gold medals at the last two world championships. In 1996 in Adelaide he won his first gold medal in the pairs with Sammy Allen, and at Johannesburg in 2000 beat Australia’s Steve Glasson to take the coveted blue riband world singles title. Earlier this year Jeremy, 29, notched up another first when he and his boyhood friend from Coleraine - Ian McClure, became the first qualifiers to win the world indoor pairs title, giving Ireland their first ever title in the event. One of his proudest moments was carrying the Northern Ireland standard at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester where he took silver in the singles.

Karen Murphy		Kelvin Kerkow
Karen is Australia’s top lady bowler. She was bronze singles medallist and pairs silver medallist at the 2000 World Championships in Moama, won singles silver at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002, and is five times winner of the prestigious Golden Nugget Singles along with numerous other titles.		Kelvin won the Welsh Masters in 1997 and celebrated that title win again in February 2004, against Andy Thomson. He is one of only three overseas players to win a major indoor event in the UK and has worked his passage into the elite top sixteen players on the WBT Ranking List after a good run in the BUPA and Potters World Singles. Kelvin recently helped Australia win the Trans Tasman in New Zealand, ending a four year drought for the team.